European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 1 Chief Fire Officers’ Association Conference 2004 – Wexford, 5 – 6 May 2004 Civil Protection in Europe Ernst Schulte

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 2 Civil Protection Unit Objectives To support and supplement national efforts in the fields of prevention, preparedness and intervention To increase the level of self-protection of the European citizens To establish a framework for effective cooperation between national civil protection services (mutual assistance)

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 3 Civil Protection Unit Legal basis Community cooperation since 1985 Community action programme Mechanism for assistance intervention Seveso II Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accident hazards Community framework in the field of accidental marine pollution

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 4 Community Action Programme in the field of civil protection Council Decision 1999/847/EC OJ L 327, , p. 53.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 5 Community Mechanism to facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions Council Decision 2001/792/EC, Euratom OJ L 297, , p. 7.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 6 Community Mechanism (2) Supplements the Action Programme by: Establishing a Monitoring and Information Centre MIC Developing contingency planning to improve the existing 24h/24h on-duty-system Creating an Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS) Colleting data on assessment and coordination experts, available teams and means Facilitating the mobilisation of teams and means

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 7 Community Mechanism (3) In the case of an emergency, the Commission shall through the MIC : - forward requests for assistance to other MS - facilitate the mobilisation of teams, experts, and intervention support - collect validated information and disseminate to MS Co-ordination of assistance outside the circle of Member States, other EEA countries and candidate countries is ensured by the MS entrusted with the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 8 Civil Protection networks Permanent Network of national civil protection correspondents (PNNC) Committee for the Mechanism and the Action Program (same persons as in the PNNC) Meetings of the directors-general (superiors of the PNNC members) Committee of Competent authorities (Seveso) Marine Pollution Committee

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 9 Civil protection and other Commission services (1) DG HEALTH AND CONSUMER PROTECTION BICHAT, food and feed early warning systems, fire safety in hotels DG REGIONAL POLICY Solidarity Fund DG ENTERPRISE Building safety, Eurocodes

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 10 Civil protection and other Commission services (2) DG ENERGY and TRANSPORT ECURIE system, Road transport, tunnel safety, carriage of dangerous goods, maritime safety, GALILEO DG RESEARCH Scientific and technical programmes concerning major hazards DG INFORMATION SOCIETY 112 single European emergency call number; trans-European telecommunications Networks (TEN-Telecom)

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 11 Civil protection and other Commission services (3) DG EXTERNAL RELATIONS Non-military crisis management Political Military Group data base DG JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS Matters of public order and security, civilian police involved in non-military crisis management Solidarity statement follow-up EUROPEAN COMMUNITY HUMANITARIAN OFFICE ECHO Humanitarian assistance

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 12 Conclusions Under the current Treaty, the Community shall take measures in the field of civil protection whilst respecting the principle of subsidiarity. Civil protection issues, in particular those related to fire prevention and safety are dealt with by several Commission services. Member States feel the need to have a single contact point in the Commission to address their concerns as regards fire prevention and safety.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 13 A EU fire safety network The recently published Swedish project ‘Prevention of fire and other incidents’ asks for a European fire safety network The mandate of this network is currently in a drafting process.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Civil Protection Unit Page 14 European Commission Directorate-General Environment Civil Protection Unit (ENV/A5) - BU-9 B-1049 Brussels fax